


Nightmare

by JJKMagic



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Established Relationship, M/M, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 06:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6741535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJKMagic/pseuds/JJKMagic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an almost forgotten past Doflamingo wanted Law to die for him... but what when he finally does?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare

_Ah, I'm going to die..._

He thought lying in a puddle of his own blood, the red liquid spreading further and further.

Strangely there was no fear in that thought, no anger, not even sadness or _regret_. It was just a fact, unchangeable at that point. Why regret something like that?

A part of him, despite all his ambitions, his strength, his _bravado_ , was actually surprised he had even made it this long.

He was one of the strongest men in the world, but nothing was ever certain. The times were ever-changing, just like the sea. That too had proven to be a fact, shoved into his face with every death of his own men he had to witness... before it had been his own turn. His turn to be shown that no matter how far you made it, you wouldn't always come out on top.

There had been so much noise, _so much chaos_ before, but now it was quiet, eerily so.

The only noise right now was the sound of his own breathing, labored, choked off and just _wrong._ Maybe, he mused, that had to do with the gurgling sound of blood spilling from his throat with every breath he took.

It didn't matter at that point, just added to the steadily-growing puddle.

His vision was dulling, not that there was much to look at, with him spread on his back like that, but the wide blue sky.

It was strangely calming, if anything, but now even the outlines of the sparse clouds dotting the sky became hard to discern.

_It won't be long now..._

Were those the famous last moments people tended to talk about? He had never wasted any time on thoughts like that or about his own death in general, but somehow he had still expected _something_. He didn't know what that was but it definitely wasn't this almost _peaceful_ state of mind he found himself in.

He wasn't even in pain at this point though he could literally feel the life _flowing_ from his body.

“Doffy!”

_What a familiar voice._

It sounded far away but apparently the source was right next to him as he felt it, more than saw, get to his knees next to him, red forever staining, _ruining_ the dotted light blue material.

_The boy made it. Of course the boy made it._

He thought as an equally familiar face entered his field of vision, leaning over him. Doflamingo was grateful. He wasn't sure if he even had enough strength to turn his head anymore.

Law looked fine though, battered but not fatally wounded.

“Doffy!”

His name was repeated. He could hear it more clearly this time, could detect that same lack of emotions that might have been expected to be there but weren't.

The boy had always been clever. He must have seen the inevitability of the situation as clearly as Doflamingo felt it. No amount of Ope-Ope patchwork could change that he had long lost more than a fatal amount of blood.

“I g-guess...” the blond croaked, his throat and soon his whole body protesting the action of speaking, “the D-Donquixote pirates... are y-yours now...”

He felt his voice breaking at the end, words almost unintelligible. He probably wouldn't have the strength for any more.

_Maybe those shouldn't have been my last..._

He thought as he kept clinging to consciousness only to see the other man shake his head.

“Don't say that,” he said and maybe Doflamingo heard his voice break, for a different reason than a cut throat, “that was never part of the deal.”

The boy didn't reprimand him for speaking, didn't tell him to save his strength. There really was no reason to and he was glad the boy understood. The blond smiled, or he thought he might have if he still had the strength to do so.

“We lost Cora-san already. I can't lose you too.”

Doflamingo didn't know if his lips had followed the subconscious command earlier but he did _will_ his fingers to lift from the wet, red-painted floor, followed by his hand and slowly and shakily his whole arm, to touch the face hovering above his.

There might have been tears there, beneath the eyes he knew to be golden, but he couldn't see clearly enough to tell. His fingers left red smears in their wake even as a stronger, much steadier hand grasped onto his.

“You shouldn't move,” was said, but the reprimand was weak as a cheek pressed against his hand.

He just stared blankly at the face in front of him as if saying 'at least allow me this much', words he was unable to form.

He didn't feel the contact so much as the warmth, his hand resting between a soft cheek and long, slender fingers holding on tightly.

_What I'd give to feel the warmth of that body embracing me once more..._

He thought and knew it to be feeble as even his arm started shaking despite being held aloft not even by his own strength anymore.

At this point he knew there to be tears on the boy's face as he felt them, hot and wet mixing with the cooling, drying blood on his hands.

And he knew that even the sudden desire to brush his hands through those dark brown locks was too much to ask for.

Just once more he wanted to feel them, feel the softness that remained even as brown started to fade to gray. He hated his fading vision for not even being able to recognize the streaks of gray among the mass of brown anymore.

They were proof of the time that had passed more than anything else, proof of the many, _many_ years they had ended up spending together. He had liked that meaning behind them ever since they first appeared. The boy had stopped being a boy decades ago, only the term-turned-endearment stuck.

He wasn't sure but somehow, _somehow_ he felt like there were unwanted tears pooling in his own eyes too.

He wanted... he wanted _something_ at that moment but he couldn't say what that might be.

Maybe it had something to do with the tears but Law chose that moment to lean down and press a soft kiss against lips that had turned numb some time ago.

He knew that was what was happening and he hated himself, hated not even being able to feel that much anymore.

“ _I love you_ , Doffy.”

The boy had never been one to voice these words mindlessly and yet, over the years, he had probably heard them _dozens of times_ , knew he had returned them in kind and still, at this moment, hated not being able to respond to them.

“Don't worry. You'll be _fine,_ Doffy,” Law said, carefully lowering his arm back to the ground and the blond froze.

Something about that statement was _wrong_ , something about the way it was said that indicated it wasn't a _lie_ , not just some hollow _comforting words_.

Something about these words screamed at him to move but all he managed was a miniscule spasm.

Law noticed though and the blond thought he heard him smile knowingly as the next words left his lips.

“I'm sorry. You'd do the same for me.”

He couldn't comprehend their meaning but those words instilled a fear in him he didn't know the cause of... until he _did_.

“Room.”

_No._

_NO!_

All the blue light engulfing them managed to do was blind the blond's dulled vision so much he had to close his eyes.

_Stop the boy!_

_Someone,_ _**anyone**_ _, stop the boy!_

But was there even anyone left to stop him? Had anyone else even made it?

_They hadn't..._

… _had they?_

 

* * *

There was a soft breeze but all he could think about when he opened his eyes was that he feverishly wished he hadn't.

There was no blood anywhere, in fact he couldn't even tell where he was, only that it was apparently a ship and definitely not his room in Dressrosa. His outfit was impeccable though as if he had just put it on...

_A dream?_

Something about this was _wrong_.

He yanked open the top buttons of his shirt to reveal unmarred flesh and really wanted to play it off as a dream induced by too much work. Maybe he had just fallen asleep on deck, whyever he had been on a ship to begin with. Everything was fine though, except for an unintelligible little mark in the middle of his chest.

If only said mark wasn't so eerily familiar. Was there any way he could still hope?

It was quiet on the ship, _too_ quiet. Dream or not, he knew if something hadn't been horribly wrong, Law, _or anyone_ from his family would have been there the moment he awoke.

But he was alone... and he had the feeling he would stay that way... for quite some time.

Had Law been right though? Would he too have subjected the other to eternal life if that was what it was going to be like, alone, _forever...?_

... _Yes_ , he would have and now it was his turn to deal with the consequences.

_Immortality, huh?_

A dream indeed. One he had had a long time ago. Now, as the silence of the empty ship threatened to suffocate him, he remembered it for the first time in ages.

He had never expected it would turn out to be such a _nightmare_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo, I've recently entered a One Piece obsession focusing heavily on a certain surgeon and two brothers...  
> Actually I'm especially obsessed with the idea of what could have been if Corazon hadn't died.
> 
> Leave a comment or visit me on my [tumblr](http://jjkmagic.tumblr.com/)^^


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